Is corruption endemic?
The problem of corruption in the Philippines is a topic that has many “experts” and “know it alls,” and is a topic that blooms readily in discussions about the government, the bureaucracy, and high officialdom. It generally rises in a period prior to elections, and challenges to candidates usually lead to finger-pointing of “corruption” especially among incumbents.
Some time ago, there was much hullabaloo about the widely touted “damaged culture” of the Filipino, with the conclusion that perhaps, corruption is “endemic” to the Filipino. It’s nice coffee shop talk, particularly when one is talking about “them,” and proudly sitting on one’s high horse of self-canonization as “not being one of them.”
The World Bank defines corruption as “the abuse of public office for private gain.” In this and several definitions, corruption is widely seen to be a one-sided predatory behavior on the part of government officials. The World Bank further explains that “Public office is abused for private gain when an official accepts, solicits, or extorts a bribe. It is also abused when private agents actively offer bribes to circumvent public policies and processes for competitive advantage and profit. Public office can also be abused for personal benefit, if no bribery occurs, through patronage and nepotism, the theft of state assets, or the diversion of stat resources.”
Another study says that corruption “should be seen as the product of a system that is jointly put in place and sustained by the government and the private sector.” The question then arises is this system “in place”
or “is it endemic” in the Philippines? International perception, as shown by some surveys, is that corruption exists here in a big way. On the other hand, neither should we condemn and hopelessly flagellate ourselves as being beyond redemption.
We do have a number of institutional measures and actual legislation that deal with the problem of corruption. We have Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act which lists or classifies acts that are considered corrupt. On the part of reforms that have been started which are related to the practices in the corporate and business sector, our regulatory authorities have mandated the practice of good corporate governance in banks, listed companies, and other companies imbued with public interest, and insurance companies, and enjoin non-covered companies to also join the “choir.”
If others perceive us to be corrupt, are we not ourselves to blame, our media seemingly delighting in denouncing our government officials, our institutions, our society, all in screaming headlines that don’t even have to be translated for readers anywhere. This is not to say that we should not be transparent and candid, but there has to be balance.
To state that corruption is endemic to the Filipino is to overstate what happens perhaps in some public offices as abetted by some private individuals or groups, and perhaps in a rather big way. But this is not a system-wide institutionalized thing. All over the entire bureaucracy, you can still find the majority of badly-paid government employees toiling away with perseverance, debunking the impression that every civil servant is out for a bribe.
Is corruption endemic to the Filipino? Is sin endemic to man? Yes, sin is, but man has been redeemed by the Son of God Himself, and man can rise above his “damaged” soul. And the Filipino, as tainted like other men are, can surely find redemption, too – but he must desire and seek it. And that’s why it behooves us all to erase that perception by working at it – through a regeneration of values that some of us have sadly put away. Let us then continue to live these values in our own quiet ways.
merci. suleik@gmail.com